Raw Story reminds us of Karl Rove's (to be polite) over-confidence or (to be more accurate, take your pick) disingenuousness or state of denial:

Rove said that he was reviewing 68 polls a week, and that "unlike the general public, I'm allowed to see the polls on the individual races," as opposed to public polls reported in the media.

"You may be looking at four or five public polls a week that talk about attitudes nationally, but that do not impact the outcome," Rove said.

Rove claimed that the polls "add up to a Republican Senate and a Republican House."

"You may end up with a different math, but you're entitled to your math," Rove said. "I'm entitled to 'the' math."

Full transcript of interview which can be heard at NPR.

The AP reports that Jim Webb has won the Senate race in Virginia. George Allen is set to concede, probably tomorrow.

Democrats completed an improbable double-barreled election sweep of Congress on Wednesday, taking control of the Senate with a victory in Virginia as they padded their day-old majority in the House.

Kudos, Dems. Thanks to all the voters who came out and registered their voice.

In a discussion I was having prior to the election, Paul Newman's The Verdict came up and it brought to mind the closing argument of Newman's character Frank Galvin, and then I saw it on Fox Movie Channel this evening:

You know, so much of the time we're just lost. We say, "Please, God, tell us what is right; tell us what is true." And there is no justice: the rich win, the poor are powerless. We become tired of hearing people lie. And after a time, we become dead... a little dead. We think of ourselves as victims... and we become victims. We become... we become weak. We doubt ourselves, we doubt our beliefs. We doubt our institutions. And we doubt the law. But today you are the law. You ARE the law. Not some book... not the lawyers... not the, a marble statue... or the trappings of the court. See those are just symbols of our desire to be just. They are... they are, in fact, a prayer: a fervent and a frightened prayer. In my religion, they say, "Act as if ye had faith... and faith will be given to you." IF... if we are to have faith in justice, we need only to believe in ourselves. And ACT with justice. See, I believe there is justice in our hearts.

It seemed an apt metaphor for what Democrats across the country had felt about politics in our country for the past years - the distrust, the powerlessness, the victimhood, the doubt of our institutions and ourselves.

But yesterday a nation of citizens rose up and had faith and delivered political justice. It was a good day.

Unlike most folks, I love the spin that a Democratic tsunami was a win for centrism. I adopt Broderism for this purpose. Consider the real exercise of politics - defining the middle.

A Democratic landslide is a win for centrism, if not conservatism:

There's spin and then there's spin. Larry Kudlow is playing dirty pool: "Look at blue dog conservative Dem victories, and look at Northeast liberal GOP defeats. The changeover in the House may well be a conservative victory, not a liberal one."

Jim Webb is the poster boy for this argument. WONDERFUL! Jim Webb the pro-choice, pro-civil unions, pro-minimum wage, pro-balanced budgets, pro-environment, anti-privatizing social security, anti-Iraq War conservative. I'll take it. So Webb is the right side of the political argument and then we move left for the other side - say Bernie Sanders. The middle is somewhere between  Bernie Sanders and Jim Webb. Sign me up.

Some of you may know that I think Jon Tester may be the most significant politician to emerge from this election. I think he can and does represent a new breed of Democrat - authentic, comfortable with his identity, proud to be a Democrat, not afraid to fight and yes - from the West.

I have been speechifying against the proposed Barack Obama model of new Democrat that has captured the fancy of the Beltway. I think that Obama has the wrong political formula for the Democratic future. I think Jon Tester has the right one.

There isn't much religious diversity in Congress, but after yesterday's election, there's a bit more.

[Keith] Ellison, a state lawmaker and lawyer, has become the first Muslim elected to Congress, and the first nonwhite elected to Congress from Minnesota.

After ignoring (at best) or attacking (at worst) Democrats for the last six years, the president is suddenly in the mood to search for "common ground," starting with the minimum wage.

President George W. Bush on Wednesday said increasing the national minimum wage is likely an issue on which he could cooperate with Democratic leaders in Congress.

Bush knows a minimum wage increase will be on his desk, and he knows that a veto won't sit well in light of the overwhelming support for a minimum wage increase, as evidenced by ballot measures in Nevada, Missouri, Ohio, Colorado, Arizona, and Montana. He also knows that he'll receive a bipartisan bill because Republicans will be afraid to oppose a minimum wage increase. The best he can do for conservatives is damage control, and that will require a conciliatory posture that the president isn't used to assuming. Does he have it in him?

As readers of this blog know, I was quite committed to defeating Joe Lieberman. Mostly due to his kowtowing ways to Bush and the GOP. Also due to his horrible role on Iraq. And finally due to his role as moralizer and criticizer in chief of Democrats - the Fox Democrat.

But Joe Lieberman won. But it is a hollow victory for him. He is no longer a Dem. His voice on Iraq is no longer relevant due to the big Dem win yesterday. His role as a Fox Dem is no longer operative.

Yes Joe will chair some committees and do nothing on them and no one will pay attention to them. Frankly, no one ever did. Joe is not a leader in the Senate, not a leader in the Democratic Party nor a leader on Iraq.

Joe is now basically going to be a pork barrel politician bringing home bacon for Connecticut. He has no national role and no Party role.

He is the equivalent of say, John Ensign or Norm Coleman. Except he will vote for Harry Reid as leader. A big except. Joe won't be happy and may try to squirm out of his commitment. We'll have to watch for that.

Reported now. Rumsfeld resigns.

At least he understood the message of this election if other Republicans have not.

Is TailRunner Joe the replacement? To do that he would cost the Dems the Senate. Would Joe hurt the Dems like that? Stupid question. Of course he would.

Not Joe - Bush announces . . . Bob Gates as the replacement.

Joe must be heartbroken.

Both Jon Tester and Jim Webb have won their races in Montana and Virginia but want to make sure that every vote is counted. We expect to have official results soon but can happily declare today that Democrats have taken the majority in the U.S. Senate.

More on the flip.

When you win, you bask in glory. And Rahm Emanuel deserves credit for steering the Democratic House team to victory this election.

But Rahm Emanuel is no boy wonder and he made his share of blunders, most notably wasting 3 million dollars on Tammy Duckworth while not funding or underfunding Dem challengers in other closers races all over the country. Indeed, it goes to one of Emanuel's biggest problems - his supreme ego and hubris. He carefully cultivated and cared for his own image in this cycle, causing needless rancor in the Dem ranks.

And he seems intent on continuing that negative aspect of his style and actions. This statement is simply unnecessary:

In private talks before the election, Emanuel and other top Democrats told their members they cannot allow the party's liberal wing to dominate the agenda next year.

What does that mean? Does that mean Emanuel wants to ignore Iraq as he did earlier this year? Or has he learned his lesson on that? Emanuel is something to worry about for Dems. A loose cannon with some bad instincts.

Congratulations Rahm, but go sit down and be quiet for a while.

It is like nothing has happened in the past two years for Tom Friedman. The man is a stone cold fool:

The Iraq war has turned into a sucking chest wound for our country — infecting its unity at home and its standing abroad. . .

Yes, thanks for the cheerleading Tom . So what do you suggest?

Our only two options left today in Iraq are “tolerable” and “awful.” “Good” is no longer on the menu. . . . It’s time to make a final push for the tolerable, and if that fails, quit Iraq and insulate ourselves and our allies from the awful. This can’t go on.

One more FU (Friedman Unit). Sure Tom and then 6 months from now you will write the same column again. What a destructive fool. But wait Tom knows what we should do . . .